name |
message |
date |
| Grifter |
AcePaula...My parameters are a little different than Mr. Ed, but fairly close. A day "session" for me is six hours and I have a BR for that session of 120 units. That is over double Mr Ed's, BUT I play almost 80-100 hands/hr vs. his 50. I only play the 'graveyard', starting at about 3:00 a.m. so finding a table 'heads up' or with one/two other players is no problem. I too use a loss limit and am a fanatic about it. I wil NOT "get in my pocket" to chase my losses. Wait and play another day, the tables will still be there. I also "do not give money back" to the casino. If I win it, it goes home with me. I don't get quite this disciplined about it, but here is a suggestion for you. If you buy in for 40 units and get ahead 8 units... pocket it and don't touch it... take it home. You have just made a 20% profit. Hope this helps. |
2003-06-26 13:31:58 |
| Mr. Ed |
I bring a session bankroll, and if that is gone I go home (happened twice). If I'm ahead after a high count shoe and I don't feel like waiting around for the next one, I'll call it a day.
I would strongly advize you to set a session loss limit and NEVER deviate. Here is a reasonable suggestion: for a four hour session - use a 40 unit loss limit (40 times your average bet). With perfect basic strategy (and playing 50 hands an hour), you can expect to blow through your loss limit maybe once every 20 trips or so. |
2003-06-26 12:47:36 |
| Grifter |
Mr. Ed....No, no, I definitely have you pegged as a "Player", that is why I used your name. I just didn't feel it right to speak for you. |
2003-06-26 12:27:58 |
| acepaula |
Grifter/Mr ed/Bug--Once again-many thanks for your insight. although it seems kind of spineless to surrender 1/2 my bet, it appears that my losses
will diminish with a hard 6 against a 9/10/A. you folks seem like regular players, so what is your strategy regarding
walking away from a table ahead? Do you have a target win, and when you reach it are you walking? or are you more seat of pants, and let the cards tell you when to leave?
keep up the great posts!! |
2003-06-26 12:05:27 |
| Mr. Ed |
I guess I'm not a "Player". :( |
2003-06-26 11:32:59 |
| Mr. Ed |
Bughousemaster, regarding 99v9: if you stand, expect to lose 18 cents on every dollar bet, split and you only lose 8 cents. (forgive me if I'm going overboard here...If you bet 100 times, you might win 36 times, push 10, and lose 44 times. Added together, +36+0-44=-18: you're down 18 bets out of 100) I've played 90 lifetime hours and I'm down $1700. I was spreading $10 to two hands of $75, but now that I'm down, I'm only spreading $10 to two hands of $50. I've got $3300 left in my bankroll before I give up. If you don't count cards, never split 10s. If you do count cards, it's still a bad idea because you will be immediately identified as a counter. Surrender is offered at the CT casinos - I don't know about other places. One last thing, don't be relaxed about basic strategy. Know it perfectly. There is no place for "guessing" with basic strategy. Of course, if you choose to "play a hunch" go for it - I just want you to know what you are doing. :) |
2003-06-26 11:30:35 |
| Grifter |
Bughousemaster...I can't speak for Mr. Ed, but I can for Midnite and me. You shouldn't even ask that question about winnings. There are two things a "Player" will not discuss with someone he doesn't know, let alone on the 'net. (1) His/her total winnings, and (2) His/her gambing bankroll. Those are none of your business. Trip reports are fine, and I do those...but my total winnings for 35 years?...No way! Here's an answer for you if you want to believe it. I won $300,000 just like your dealer friend last year (g). |
2003-06-26 11:08:54 |
| Grifter |
Bughouse...Read my post to AceCarla. 6D w/LS is common on the LV strip. As Ed said, ES is rare, if not extinct. |
2003-06-26 09:50:18 |
| BuGhOu§eMASTER |
Midnite, Grifter: Where are you 2 from? You 2 seem to go hand in hand on this forum :)
And excuse my mistake on the 9+9 splitting thing... I too was doing it for memory and forgot that against a Top card 9 you're supposed to split too.
Mr. Ed, what do you mean "(in reality, you still expect to lose if you hit, you just lose LESS." I guess I'm mostly confused on the losing LESS part... lose less within a certain timeframe, or overall in your BJ career?
Also, how are all of you in BJ? Like, how much money are you all overall UP or DOWN? You know, the majority of BJ players LOSE more money then they win in the longrun, and unfortunately I fall into this category. :(
acepaula: Yes, they beat me into saying that info about Surrender. I have yet to play a Surrender game myself but hope to play in that somewhere... where all is it offered in the US? It's RARE no?
I dont ever do this, but I was just wondering what are your guys opinions are about splitting 10's? Would you EVER do it? I wouldn't ever in a multi-game but against the dealer heads up and with a hot streak against their 6 I Just might? What do you think about that?
Coolhand: When he said he did it at a sister casino, he was meaning another casino nearby, of course not at Isle of Capri - Lake Charles where he works :) |
2003-06-26 09:45:31 |
| Mr. Ed |
Acepaula, this might help you feel comfortable with surrendering 16v9,10,A. If you hit, more than half the time you will bust. Even if you don't bust, chances are slim that you will beat the dealer's 19,20,21 implied by the 9,10,A up. Clearly, surrendering half your bet is better than losing all of it. With 7,8 up, if you don't bust you have a decent chance of beating the dealer, hence you hit. Let me know where else your "discomfort" is and I will help you understand better. "Late surrender" means that the dealer checks his hole card before offering surrender. "Early surrender" means that the player may surrender before the hole card is checked. This is a BIG differnce! With bad hands, you can forfiet just half your bet, instead of losing all of it to a BJ. But once you know the dealer does not have BJ, there's only a few hands that are still so bad that you have an expected loss of more than half your bet. When you know the dealer does not have BJ, then it's better to play out a hand than to throw away half your bet. This favorable rule existed in Atlantic City when AC first offered legalized gambling. It actually gave the basic strategy player a positive advantage over the house! It was soon discontinued. You will probably never see "early surrender" again. Normally when we say "surrender", we mean "late surrender", it just saves time to drop the "late" part. If by some miracle you find early surrender, then surrender 5-7,12-17vA and 14-16v10. |
2003-06-26 08:59:56 |
| Grifter |
AcePaula...(1) Yes, I always use surrender when it is offered, and in LV I will not a play six deck game unless it IS offered. It improves your EV by 0.08%-0.09%. (2) "Late Surrender" is when you are allowed to surrender when it is your turn to "play" (hit, stand, double, split, or surrender). (3) For six deck only....Yes. LS is available for six deck games in all of the better stores on the strip. |
2003-06-26 08:07:32 |
| acepaula |
Grifter/Bug..I am curious about
your thoughts on "surrender". the basic strategy chart I have been studying recommends
it with a hard 16 against dealers 9/10/A. It just doesn't seem like the correct move. Also-is "surrender" common at most LV casino's? what is "late Surrender"? Many thanks for all of your insight-I enjoy reading your posts. |
2003-06-26 06:54:28 |
| Grifter |
Ed..I stand corrected and please accept my apology. At my age I should know better than to try and do things from memory (g). I checked in "Revere's ... Business" and you are right about the duece. And technically you are correct about HARD 18 overall, although barely. According to Revere that number is a whopping 0.33%. Of course if you include a soft 18, you have a whole different ball game. Again, my apology. |
2003-06-26 06:20:54 |
| Mr. Ed |
Grifter, according to Cacarulo's tables at bjmath.com, 18 beats dealer upcard of 2, but you are correct that 18 loses to dealer upcard 9,10,A. I guess I wasn't clear about 18 being a loser - if you have 18, but you didn't look at the dealer upcard, you have a (very slight) loser! I think this surprises a lot of BJ players who smile when they get 18. Of course, the player SHOULD be smiling with 2-7 up and frowning with 9,10,A up.
In fact, the only winning hands are BJ,20,A9,11,AA,19,A8,10,55,99,A7. 9 and 18 are close to zero, but negative. The rest are losers! Just be thankful that 20 is, by far, the most common hand. |
2003-06-26 05:26:35 |
| Midnite |
Coolhand- Thanks for the comments. You would be welcome to sit in with me and the Grifter and we may not even say 'nice hit" :) |
2003-06-26 01:33:55 |
| NorCal BJ |
ACE: I should have mentioned Crystal Bay in North Lake also...Low limits....sometimes you can play head on with the dealer. It is slow late night and early morning...Good luck...I would love to hear how it goes. I'll be there in August. |
2003-06-26 01:17:27 |
| coolhand |
Thannkx to all for the advise,I guess I'll just have to learn to take my "nice hits" in stride with everything else. Bughsmstr- going back to Vegas hopefully for a week starting labor day, I'll try and get some of your money back. A quick comment on the 300k dealer, I thought there was a rule at least there was in "old" Vegas, where it prohibits any employee from drinking or gambling at any company establishments. What come to my mind is he told Bug it was at a "sister" house. Perhaps a red flag right there? Who knows today Vegas, the corporations might want a shot at getting some of the hard earned money back. Could be a bottom line numbers thing or something. Great to see Midnite and Grifter are back, for your posts are right on, the knowledge you share is golden, sitting in on a few hands with you two would be priceless. |
2003-06-25 22:08:13 |
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